Fashion got political in Rome on Sunday when Italian designer Fernanda Gattinoni sent models down the catwalk in floor-length puffball gowns emblazoned with enormous mugshots of some of the world’s most powerful women – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Queen Elizabeth II and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

While Clinton and the queen escaped without commentary, the black sleeveless boat-neck top Gattinoni paired with Rice’s skirt read “PEACE” in large letters.

* While past winners of “America’s Next Top Model” often fade into oblivion after the show, Suvi Koponen, who won Finland’s version, is making international strides her very first year out.

She opened and closed the last Prada show in Milan, and replaced supermodel Natalia Vodianova as the face of CK Calvin Klein this spring, shooting with such photographers as David Sims, Mario Testino and Steven Meisel for magazines like Vogue. She’s optioned for top shows this week in New York.

* We hear: That two years after much-heralded Parisian label Martine Sitbon suffered a scandalous closure, she will re-launch under the moniker Rue du Mail with former Sitbon designer Cedric Rivrain at the helm.